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Orson Krennic
Orson Callan Krennic (portrayed by Ben Mendelsohn) was the main antagonist of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. A high-ranking officer in the Galactic Empire, Krennic was the director of the Imperial military's Advanced Weapons Research division. It was Krennic who oversaw the development of the Empire's ultimate weapon, the Death Star battle-station. History Krennic had been involved with the development of the Death Star since its inception during the Clone Wars. The concept designs for the station were obtained from the former Archduke of Geonosis, Poggle the Lesser, a member of the Confederacy's ruling council who had been captured by Republic forces during the course of the war. After negotiating with Poggle, Krennic soon obtained a Geonosian labour force to work on the initial infrastructure of the battle-station. As the years went by, the Clone Wars came to an end and the Republic had been reorganised into the First Galactic Empire under the rule of Emperor Sheev Palpatine. The Death Star project would suffer numerous delays and setbacks during this time and its power regulation remained a matter of concern. Krennic would eventually turn to renowned scientist Galen Erso, employing him for his research into kyber crystals. While Galen was led to believe that his research would be used to provide unlimited energy to the citizens of the Empire, the truth was that Krennic was using the kyber crystal research to develop the Death Star's primary weapon: a superlaser that would be capable of destroying a whole planet instantaneously. Galen would eventually flee the Empire with his family, going into hiding on the remote planet of Lah'mu. Years later, Krennic would track Galen down, killing his wife and forcing him to return to work on the Death Star project. Galen's daughter Jyn would manage to escape with the help of Saw Gerrera. Little did Krennic know that Jyn would ultimately destroy his aspirations in the years to come. In 0 BBY, the Death Star's construction was completed, though Krennic would receive little acknowledgement for his contributions to the project as Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin would oversee the operation of the completed battle-station and lay all the blame for the project's delays at Krennic's feet. Tarkin informed Krennic that a defector had leaked information regarding Galen Erso's involvement in the project to the Rebel Alliance, and so Krennic travelled to Eadu in order to deal with the situation himself. There, he met with Galen and all of his fellow researchers, threatening to execute them all if the informant did not reveal himself. Galen stepped forward, but Krennic ordered his troops to kill all of the scientists anyway. At this time, the Rebellion had sent a strike force to Eadu and they bombed the base, with Galen dying in the attack. Krennic would survive and later travelled to Mustafar where he met with Darth Vader, requesting that he be granted an audience with Emperor Palpatine for delivering the weapon that the Emperor had requested. Instead, Vader only chastised the Director for failing to keep the Death Star project a secret and ordered him to ensure that no further leaks occurred. When Krennic pressed Vader further about his request for an audience with the Emperor, Vader responded by using the Force to choke him, warning the Director not to push his patience further. Following his meeting with Lord Vader, Krennic travelled to Scarif to ensure the security of the Death Star plans. At this time, a Rebel strike force known as Rogue One landed on Scarif. Most of the strike force engaged Imperial troops on the ground while Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor infiltrated the Citadel Tower to steal the Death Star data-tapes from the central archive. As the battle between the Rebel and Imperial forces escalated, Krennic headed to the archive accompanied by his entourage of death troopers to confront the infiltrators personally. He managed to wound Cassian inside the archive chamber and then followed Jyn up to the top platform of the tower where Jyn would need to transmit the Death Star plans to the Rebel fleet in orbit. Death Director Krennic confronted Jyn on the uppermost platform of the Citadel Tower, informing her that the Shield Gate above Scarif was still active and that she would not be able to transmit the plans while the shield was still up. Blaster at the ready, Krennic was ready to kill Jyn, but was suddenly shot in the back by Cassian and rendered unconscious. Minutes later, Krennic awoke to find that the Shield Gate had been destroyed and that Jyn had successfully transmitted the Death Star schematics to the Rebel fleet. Looking at the console screen, he realised that there was an inherent flaw in the battle-station's design. He then looked up to see the Death Star dominating Scarif's skyline, preparing to fire on the base. Krennic had little time to appreciate the irony of being destroyed by the weapon he had dedicated his life to; when the superlaser fired, Krennic was caught directly in the path of the beam and was instantly annihilated. Category:Movie Deaths Category:Main Characters Category:Villains Category:Killers Category:Mass Murderers Category:Star Wars Category:Star Wars Anthology Series Category:Rogue One Category:Ironic Fate Category:Death by Vaporization